REAL VALUE FOR MONEY NEEDS REAL CREATIVITY BELOW THE LINE, ARGUES PHIL PAWSEY, CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF WAX COMMUNICATIONS

Wander down any high street and you’ll see the promotional noise has grown toa deafening din in the past year or so.

Price promotions are popular at the best of times, and especially so in a recession.

Not only do they appeal to budget conscious shoppers – even the affluent are elbow-in the bargain bins, according to recent reports- but marketing directors like them for their accountability and tactical impact.

Retailers, who want to outsell the merchant up the road, have been passionate in their demand for them to hook in customers.

But are consumers starting to suffer from ‘discount fatigue’?

While a money-saving deal will always catch the eye, it’s been proved that when times are tough people are inclined to turn to the warmth and reassuring nature of established brands.

Brands like these tend to want to protect their brand equity.

Discounts can harm brands

Deep discounts can cause the consumer to believe that something is ‘wrong’.

Frequent discounting serves to lower the value of the brand because of an almost subconscious consumer reaction – they believe that quality has also been lowered.

Or, in a ‘value rebound’, as identified by US based branding experts Killian and Company, consumers begin to perceive the usual, non-discounted price as too high.

It’s often debated whether Stella Artois’‘Reassuringly Expensive’ above the line premium positioning was damaged by constant price promotions below the line. It was confusing for consumers, to say the least.

A recession doesn’t mean all brand communications should be about price.

It’s arguably even more important that brands build a distinct personality and image in tough times than in better days, because they need to achieve stand out.

With people looking for better value, having a genuine reason other than price to choose one product over another is all the more important.

Above the line agencies talk a lot about the fact that brands which continue advertising through a recession come out of it the strongest. Recent research by Oregon State University and Western Oregon University showed that advertising expenditures contributed to increased earnings by firms for up to three years following; the greatest impact occurring in the year immediately following a recession.

So building brands, both above and below the line, during a recession ensures that when the good times return, the strongest brands reap those benefits.

The good news is building brands and driving sales is not such a stark choice these days. With creative thought and proper insight, sales promotion can do both.

Take our latest work for United Biscuits, which extended the above the line campaign in a neat sales promotion in
this way.

Our integrated campaign for Hula Hoops was born out of the insight that people love to play with the hoops, usually sticking them on their fingers. So building on from the great ads that Publicis delivered, we created a campaign inviting consumers to make ‘Finger Films’ and win trips to ‘Hulawood USA’.

A strong promotional call to action can use insight to support and build brand equity.

Another UB through the line campaign we worked on asks the nation which McVitie’s biscuits they love the most. Yes, there’s a chance to win cash daily, but the central insight – that we Brits are obsessively passionate about biscuits – drives the campaign, placing McVitie’s at the heart of that obsession and building the brand in the process.

Creativity can shine below the line; and so it should,

now that the public is inured to the ‘half price’ message.

Creativity cuts through

Creativity can shine below the line; and so it should, now that the public is inured to the ‘half price’ message and deals are a given.

And, as the recession rolls on, we should remember consumers have been bombarded with ‘money-off’ messaging, 24/7, online andoff, in the home and on the high street for a while now. There must come a time when they not only switch off, but actively ‘tune out’.

With this in mind, I would go as far as to say that creativity counts for even more in a recession. What else is there to engage customers when price no longer cuts it?

A good strategic and creative idea sometimes (but not always!) costs no more than a run of the mill one, and offers greater ROI.

Creativity also delivers more than sales volume spikes, if planned with the bigger picture in mind.

The promotional hit of early summer – the Walker’s ‘Do Us a Flavour’ campaign – is an example par excellence.

According to Walkers, the idea came out of a brainstorming session involving Walkers marketers, ad agency AMV:BBDO, PR consultancy Freud, below-the-line agency The Big Kick and Paul Weiland, the man who directs the brand’s TV ads.

The bold central idea was to tap into the ‘user-generated’ phenomenon. By letting the public take ‘control’ of the new flavour, like other brands riding the wave of customer interaction, Walker’s was able to ‘stand back’ and let the public do the edginess. But while the creativity came ‘from the street,’ the professional feel was maintained through the campaign’s slick execution, featuring wellcrafted multimedia content.

‘Do us a flavour’ was an innovative, engaging and strategic promotion and a world away from the tactical, template variety of discount SP.

Of course the two are not directly comparable, but if both are measured against their bottom line, which offers the best return?

It’s true the Walker’s campaign gave a pretty hefty incentive to enter; not just the chance of winning a £50,000 prize but also a 1% share of future royalties. But the results are sensational.

Walkers received more than 1.1m entries, four times as many as it had hoped, and at its peak in August, the website had 102,000 web sessions per day.

Walkers had the mettle to do something different – and with every success comes a wave of ‘me too’ promotions.

Among them is Dorito’s digitally-heavy ‘Guess Which Flavour’ campaign, which invites users to guess its mystery flavour.

All very well, but is copycat marketing, even if it does mirror a highly creative campaign, a good idea?

Brands may think so, if the number of times I am asked to create a hybrid campaign ‘a bit like promotion ‘X’ but with a bit of promotion ‘Y’ thrown in’ is anything to go by.

SP is one of the few marketing industry good news stories to come out of the economic down turn; the January Bellwether report showed sales promotion now accounts for 9.2% of overall spend, compared to Main Media (30.3%), Direct Marketing (24.9%) and ‘all other’ (25.7%), a considerable rise on previous reports.

But SP is not just big news in a recession. With creativity and insight, it can be the marketing method of choice for all seasons.

Beyond the brief

Pushing the boundaries and delivering new creative spins, even if the brief appears to require an obvious solution or a re-hash of something that’s  already been done, will give SP a shelf life beyond the recession.

Consumers don’t settle for second best – why should we?

The new ad by Publicis for Bonkers About Biscuits, the sales promotion (on-pack) campaign devised by Wax Communications for McVitie’s has been awarded the ‘Ad of the week’ accolade!

]]> http://www.waxcomms.com/blog/index.php/2009/09/15/ad-of-the-week-bonkers-about-biscuits/feed/ 0 http://www.waxcomms.com/blog/index.php/2009/09/08/wax-balls-summer-2009/ http://www.waxcomms.com/blog/index.php/2009/09/08/wax-balls-summer-2009/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:07:35 +0000 Editor http://www.waxcomms.com/blog/?p=1474 Culture | 08.09.09

On September 3rd, team Wax Balls literally went ‘Old Skool’ and headed off to Regents Park for an afternoon of fun, frolics and frivolity.

Despite gale force conditions, an impressive 25 competitors took to the start line.

Proceedings were kicked off by a rather half hearted warm up routine, spurred on by the 2 team captains, Anna for the yellows and Brydon for the blacks.

Once ‘warm’ both teams jumped, skipped, ran, and hopped their way through 6 retro races.  Some impressive performances to note were Phil ‘Ussain Bolt’ Pawsey, Brydon Gerus managing to run scarily fast in high heels (had he done that before??!), Sean ‘Wallaby’ Watkins and Gina ‘my boobs hurt’ Bolger.

The yellow team took an impressive lead winning the relay, 3-legged and sack race.

Not to be deterred, the black team made an astounding come back, winning the fancy dress, spinning and egg and (giant) spoon race!

The tug of war was the deciding game – and tensions were high.

The excitement was at fever pitch as Graham struggled to keep both teams in order before dropping the rope.

After a few almighty heaves, team yellow were victorious and held the impressive Wax Balls trophy aloft (many thanks to Sophie for making the trophy in her Dads garage- it was brilliant!)

A special mention also has to go to Chris Vincent who was wearing the only fancy dress outfit (even if the boys did pop out of the barracks a bit too often!), Graham Vernon Grace and his able helper Craig for some great umpiring and to the Wax Live team for organising the whole event and Brydon for his creative genius.

Obviously all that activity made us very thirsty, so we all popped off to the local for a few pints of beer.

Lovely.

The Bonkers About Biscuits campaign is covered by The Drum …

Wax Communications has created an integrated campaign that asks the nation what their favourite McVitie’s biscuits are.

The activity, called ‘Bonkers about Biscuits’ asks biscuit lovers to vote for their favourite Mcvitie’s biscuit for their chance to instantly win a share of £5,000 every day.

Wax spearheaded the Bonkers for Biscuits’ creative concept that has driven an above the line campaign, produced by Publicis, that first airs on 1st September.

The 8-week instant-win on pack promotion starts on August 17. Consumers enter their pack details online at www.bonkersaboutbiscuits.com, along with the name of their favourite McVitie’s biscuit, to see instantly if they have won 1 of 50 cash prizes everyday ranging from £50 to £1,000.

The website implemented by digital agency InBox, also features a forum where consumers can have their say on why they love their favourite biscuit, with an additional weekly prize awarded to the best comment.

Wax Creative Director Phil Pawsey says:

“We found people are really passionate about their favourite biscuits and we‘re encouraging them to debate this online when they enter the competition.  It’s a real fun campaign that gets people smiling.”

Sarah Heynen, Sweet Biscuits Marketing Director of United Biscuits, says:

“Biscuits are part of our national culture, and everyone has their favourite. We expect McVitie’s Bonkers about Biscuits to engage the public, and it’s just the kind of diversion the nation needs to brighten their day at a time when it’s all a bit doom and gloom. We are expecting it to be a real winner for all involved.”

Nic Sanders, United Biscuits Account Director at Wax, adds:

“The promotion is a great way to reward all the loyal McVitie’s consumers and also help establish the brand, in the heartland of new generations”

For more information please contact:

]]> http://www.waxcomms.com/blog/index.php/2009/08/12/mcvities-bonkers-about-biscuits-2/feed/ 0 http://www.waxcomms.com/blog/index.php/2009/08/12/wax-creates-mcvities-promotion-to-discover-the-biscuit-britain-is-most-bonkers-about/ http://www.waxcomms.com/blog/index.php/2009/08/12/wax-creates-mcvities-promotion-to-discover-the-biscuit-britain-is-most-bonkers-about/#comments Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:00:35 +0000 Editor http://www.waxcomms.com/blog/?p=1342 Creative Match | 12.08.09

The Bonkers About Biscuits campaign created by Wax Communications for McVitie’s is covered by Creative Match.

The holding company for Wax Communications, Media Square plc, today publishes its 2009 Annual Report and Accounts.

The Wonder Wax team of Vinny, Vicki, Jess, Anna, Brydon, Pip and Jo (to be joined later by Lucy) are playing in tonight’s ISP tournament.

All the best team!

]]> http://www.waxcomms.com/blog/index.php/2009/07/28/wonder-wax-netbal-team-sets-off-to-the-isp-tournament/feed/ 0 http://www.waxcomms.com/blog/index.php/2009/07/17/because-our-time-equals-money-a-little-understanding-goes-a-long-way/ http://www.waxcomms.com/blog/index.php/2009/07/17/because-our-time-equals-money-a-little-understanding-goes-a-long-way/#comments Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:45:25 +0000 Editor http://www.waxcomms.com/blog/?p=1073 Marketing Week | 16.07.09

Sean Watkins, Client Services Director has written in today’s Marketing Week. This is the full article.

From a Client Services perspective it’s not enough for agencies in any discipline to simply understand the consumer and deliver creative solutions to drive sales anymore. In the current climate it’s more important than ever that agencies truly understand their clients’ businesses and the individual pressures they are working under. You have to understand what’s keeping them awake at night too – and the chances are, one of those things will be the next call from the CFO.

Indeed, as an article in The Economist’s Intelligent Life magazine stated, this is the year of the CFO and with that brings the need to prove the return on every penny’s worth of expenditure. Add to that the widespread concern around job security and it becomes clear that the savvy marketer needs to make damn sure they’ve got their numbers sorted before pitching for budget. Nobody wants to unwittingly volunteer themselves for the next round of redundancies…

Most agencies understand that clients are feeling the pressure from all these factors. But does it work the other way round? Do clients understand the business model of their agencies and how to get the best out of them? I’d suggest that a little understanding can go a long way towards getting the most value.

Flawed as it is, most agencies effectively operate the same model as lawyers – time equals money. Getting efficiencies

out of your agency doesn’t mean simply asking them to do the same work for free. Clients aren’t the only ones with CFOs, and no business can survive if they’re not making money. So what to do? How can clients get better value for money from their agencies while still investing in talent to get the best work?

For me, it’s about getting the decision makers to make decisions – and fast. At Wax, we work with the likes of United

Biscuits and Johnson & Johnson and there is senior level involvement during the planning phases, from both an agency and client perspective. Stripping away layers of bureaucracy and getting decisions there and then speeds up decision making and reduces the need for endless to-ing and fro-ing, which all ultimately costs both money and time.

Jon Goldstone, Marketing Director of Hovis, recently talked about how he employed a similar technique with his agencies, regularly holding inter-agency meetings with all the decision makers in the room. No-one left the room until decisions had been made. Potentially quite uncomfortable to begin with, especially when your ideas are being openly critiqued by your peers, but his agencies embraced the process.

Doing it differently would have cost a whole lot more in agency fees and the impact of consistent communication at senior level was undoubtedly the driving force behind a top quality creative campaign that delivered great results to the bottom line.

For clients, thinking about your agencies business models and developing new ways of working can create cost efficiencies and better returns. Enough to raise a smile on the face of the most hardened CFO.

]]> http://www.waxcomms.com/blog/index.php/2009/07/17/because-our-time-equals-money-a-little-understanding-goes-a-long-way/feed/ 0 http://www.waxcomms.com/blog/index.php/2009/06/01/new-pub-grub-flavours-frommccoys/ http://www.waxcomms.com/blog/index.php/2009/06/01/new-pub-grub-flavours-frommccoys/#comments Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:00:47 +0000 Editor http://www.waxcomms.com/blog/?p=1445 FoodBev.com | 01.06.09

The sales promotion campaign for McCoy’s is featured in a news story by FoodBev.com.